40 Acres Sports

That’s certainly not breaking news, but Skippy has outdone himself this time. In his latest article on ESPN.com writes that there’s no way Texas should be number one in the country and that we wouldn’t stand a chance head-to-head against USC. It’s one thing to have that opinion (though I think it’s completely wrong), it’s another to then not back it up with rational argument. Hmmm… I wonder why he’d have such an irrational hatred of Texas?

He attempts to bash our schedule so far, despite it being better than both USC and Virginia Tech’s no matter how you look at it. Our opponents have a better combined record. We’ve beaten just as many (or more) top 25 teams. We beat a top 5 team on the road and demolished a top 10 team at home, USC and Va. Tech have done neither. Yes our schedule gets weaker from here on out, but just because we played our toughest games early doesn’t make them any less difficult, in fact it makes upsets even more likely.

He then claims that USC has to take every team’s best shot each week. Um, Skip, do you think the Horns are sneaking up on people? As Walter Cronkite says, “We’re Texas.” No matter what our ranking is, everyone wants to take us down. Factor in our national title aspirations and there’s nothing in the world our opponents would rather do than knock us down. They took “Arizona State’s best shot at Arizona State.” Whoop-dee-freaking-do! They’re 1-3 in Pac 10 play, they’re terrible.

My favorite part of the article is when he states Ohio State would give the Trojans a better game than we would. Wait a second… Didn’t we beat the Buckeyes? At their place? At night*? That doesn’t count Skip says, we didn’t win that one Jim Tressel lost it:

“Ohio State coach Jim Tressel blew that game more than Texas won it. Tressel appeared to be channeling Bevo by starting and finishing with quarterback Justin Zwick, even though Troy Smith led the Buckeyes on five scoring drives and built a 22-16 lead through three quarters. Zwick’s late fumble clinched a 25-22 Texas win.”

His basis for that argument? “Smith led the Buckeyes on five scoring drives.” Wow, five scoring drives? They must have been really rolling with him at quarterback. Oh wait, they weren’t. Not even close. Ohio State had one good drive and it ended with Smith’s best play of the night, a 36 yard pass from Smith to Santonio Holmes for a touchdown, but the rest of the night they did next to nothing with or without Smith at the helm. Those other 4 scoring drives? 5 plays for 8 yards. 9 plays for 22 yards. 6 plays for 11 yards. And finally, 4 plays for a whopping -1 yards. Look out Peyton Manning! Playing Smith the whole game would not have changed the final score.

A valid argument could definitely be made that the Trojans should be number one, but Texas has just as strong of a case. I think most people believe they’re clearly the top two teams in the country. I don’t understand the outrage over this week’s BCS rankings from the national media. The Trojans probably have the nation’s best offense, while Texas’ defense is second to none. Texas has played better against tougher opponents so far, but if USC plays well over their next difficult stretch they’ll likely jump back into the first spot anyways. Both teams deserve to be where they are and the exact order doesn’t mean much. After all, whether you’re number one or two in October doesn’t really matter, as long as both teams win out we’ll find out on January 4th in Pasadena who the better team is.

Things are looking better and better for Texas with blue chip QB’s Mustain and Snead.

Vince is #2 in the nation in passing, not that half the media knows it. (BugMeNot)

You can still get tickets to the game in Waco from the Baylor ticket office.

Their jerseys are orange on one shoulder and maroon on the other. Then a lot of the players are wearing long sleeves that are also orange on one side and maroon on the other. They look like a beer league softball team, especially the guys with the long sleeves underneath. Or maybe a team from Blitz: The League. How many different uniform variations do they have?

Man those things are seriously fugly.

Our Thoughts

Brian – Texas goes out and whips a top ten team last week and then has to spend all week defending themselves. There’s something seriously wrong with a system that creates that situation.

There is zero doubt in my mind that the Longhorns are playing like the best team in the country right now, and the rankings are starting to reflect that. They’ve played the tougher schedule (so far) and looked much more dominant in those games, so there’s not really much of an argument in my mind. USC seems to be getting a lot of credit for games they played last season, with a different defense and a different coaching staff. Someone ought to tell the USC defense to try stopping someone, then maybe a few more voters (human and microchip-based) will start putting them back at number one.

Matt – Lots of controversy this week as Texas jumped USC in the latest BCS poll. Honestly, I don’t see what the big deal is. Texas has played better against better teams so far this season. Texas’ opponents’ combined records to this point is 27-22 while USC’s is 22-28. I do think that USC will move back to the #1 spot in the BCS as we move further along in the season. But who really cares? If you are #1 or #2 it doesn’t matter (sorry Va Tech), it will get settled at the Rose Bowl.

Related Links

• Last week’s rankings
• Harris Interactive Poll (PDF, 69 KB)
• Master Coaches Survey

I seriously doubt Green Bay would select Vince.

Other than a three-point win at Ohio State, Texas’ average margin of victory has been 37 points, and Texas proved that yet again with a blow out win against in-state rival [tag]Texas Tech[/tag]. I have to admit, I was pretty nervous going into this game, and through most of the first quarter, but once Texas and Vince Young settled down, it seemed like the game was on cruise control. The game definitely had its good and bad points, and here is how I broke everything down.

Quarterback – Overall Grade: B

I hate to say it, but I wasn’t very impressed with Vince Young’s performance on the field against Texas Tech. He made some pretty poor decisions on a few passes and I recall him badly over-throwing his receivers at least 5 times. He did seem to improve on the second half, and at least seemed to stop making some of the poor decisions. His stats he ended up with weren’t awful, but I definitely expect more from Vince after his fast start this season.

Running Backs – Overall Grade: A

I swear, Texas has so many good running backs it just seems unfair. I mean most of our back-up running backs that play mainly special teams could probably start on most Division 1 schools. Against Tech, 6 running backs combined for 40 carries and 205 yards. Even Chris Ogbonnaya got some late playing time and scored an impressive touchdown run. Selvin looked like a changed man, I think it is due to the fact that Jamaal Charles is playing so well and was slated to have some running time this week. Overall, very impressive in my opinion.

Receivers – Overall Grade: A

Billy Pittman is just a mad man out there. Did you see that one handed grab? Ridiculous. Pittman added 2 more touchdowns to his already impressive year, giving him 5 total. Brian Carter made a couple critical receptions and Romance Taylor is proving that he may be a real threat at the wide receiver position. Once Taylor gets his route running down, big things will happen for him down the road.

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First time since 1984 that Texas was ranked #1 in any poll.

Let’s all cross our fingers that Vince is saying the same thing next January.